1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vacuum cleaner. More particularly, the present invention relates to a multi-cyclone apparatus capable of sequentially separating contaminants from a drawn air by a plurality of stages and a vacuum cleaner having the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional cyclone apparatus is constructed such that, as a vacuum cleaner draws in contaminant-entrained air from a surface being cleaned with a suction force generated from a motor assembly, the cyclone apparatus separates contaminants from the drawn air by a centrifugal force. The cyclone apparatus mainly includes a cyclone that spins the drawn air to separate contaminants, an air inlet through which the air flows in a tangential direction, and a contaminant receptacle which collects contaminants separated from the cyclone. The cyclone apparatus usually has a single cyclone.
As such a conventional cyclone apparatus with a single cyclone separates contaminants regardless of sizes of the contaminants, there was a problem that small-sized contaminants such as dust frequently float in the air and discharged through a discharge port, although relatively large-sized contaminants can be effectively collected. Accordingly, contaminant collecting efficiency deteriorates.
In order to overcome such problems occurring in the art, the same applicant has invented and disclosed a multi-cyclone apparatus which separates contaminants in two stages, in Korean Patent Application No. 10-2004-0009092 (filed Feb. 11, 2004). The multi-cyclone apparatus of KR10-2004-0009092 can provide higher collecting efficiency because it has a single first cyclone and a plurality of second cyclones, which can separate and collect contaminants in two stages.
However, the applicant has now noted a need for still higher contaminant collecting efficiency, and thus provides the present invention to meet such a need.